'Neither the Congress nor the BJP has the political will to take on the Sanatan Sanstha.'
In their first-ever visit to Sanatan Sanstha after taking over the Margao blast case, National Investigating Agency (NIA) officials on Saturday questioned its managing trustee at its Ramnathi ashram, around 30 kms from Panaji.
'If the Sanatan Sanstha is a threat to peaceful co-existence and Goa's culture, then I must stand up against such threats.'
Jayant Athavale, chief of Sanatan Sanstha, was quizzed oN Saturday by sleuths of the Central agency at his residence in Ramnathi Ashram, 30km from Panaji. "An NIA team quizzed Sanatan Sanstha's founder Dr Jayant Athavale in his residential quarters," Sanatan Prabhat, the outfit's mouthpiece claimed on Sunday.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) is probing the source of funding of Sanatan Sanstha, a right-wing Hindu group whose members have been named accused in the 2009 Margao bomb blast.
Sanatan Sanstha's link to Margao blast conspiracy is getting thicker with all five accused arrested in the case having allegiance to the Hindu right wing organisation operating from Goa, police said.
Goa Chief Minister Digamber Kamat said on Sunday that he was yet to receive any proposal from state home ministry on ban on Sanatan Sanstha, a right wing Hindu organisation, under scanner for its alleged role in Margao blast.
The Goa government said on Monday that it is contemplating a ban on the Sanatan Sanstha for its alleged involvement in the Diwali-eve blast in Panaji even as the Hindu right-wing organisation denied of any role in the explosion that left one dead and another critically wounded.
"The other Hindu organisations have some or the other backing. They have not been taking the hard stance on certain issues like we do," he added.
Mahatma Gandhi's great-grandson Tushar Gandhi on Thursday opposed a ban on the Sanatan Sanstha, which is under scan for the murder of rationalist Narendra Dabholkar, saying banning any organisation is "undemocratic".
'Why she was killed? Because she believed in a certain ideology, she wrote and spoke on that'
A proposal to ban the Sanstha is pending with the Maharashtra government since last year, a top ATS officer said on Tuesday.
A worker of right-wing organistaion Sanatan Sanstha picked up from Goa by Pune police, as part of their probe into the murder of anti-superstition activist Narendra Dabholkar.
They claim Wagle has always been writing against them.
Another senior officer of Karnataka CID conducted some preliminary enquiries regarding the possible links the hardline outfit with murder of Kalburgi.
.jpg)
Sanatan Sanstha, the Hindu right-wing group often at loggerheads with Narendra Dabholkar, on Wednesday sought to distance itself from the anti-superstition activist's killing.
Locals of Ramnathi in North Goa district where the Sanatan Sanstha is headquartered, have demanded a ban on the right-wing outfit and urged the state government to ensure that its ashram is shifted out of their village failing which they would intensify their agitation against them and their 'sadhaks' (seekers).
A special court in Margao, Goa, has acquitted all six accused in the 2009 bomb blast case.
'The Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Goa Police made every attempt to gather evidence against Sanatan Sanstha in the blast case, but they achieved nothing,' the organisation said in its mouthpiece Sanatan Prabhat. It said the case is transferred to NIA to make sure that Sanatan is indicted in the offence 'by hook or by crook.'
A former self-defence trainer with right-wing Hindu group Sanatan Sanstha was arrested in connection with Margao bomb blast conspiracy by Special Investigation Team (SIT), police said on Wednesday.
"We strongly condemn the allegation levelled by Shyam Manav... Hypnotism does not possess the power to make a person do violent act," said the spokesperson of the Sanstha, Abhay Vartak, at a press conference in Mumbai.
Goa unit of Aam Aadmi Party on Thursday alleged that the state government was providing financial support to the "extremist and dubious" organisation Sanatan Sanstha, by giving advertisements to its mouthpiece.
Conflicting views are emerging over the proposal to ban Sanatan Sanstha, a right wing group allegedly linked to the killing of Govind Pansare.
Sanatan's managing trustee Virendra Marathe in a notice titled "There is no place for such people in Sanatan" published in its mouthpiece Sanatan Prabhat has said that "seeker having any type of anti-social attitude should not stay with Sanatan." Also, they should not have any association with sanatan, he added.
Maharashtra-based Hindu right-wing organisation Sanatan Sanstha, accused of having a hand in the Margao blast in Goa, on Monday again denied its role in the incident.
Additional sessions judge A A Jadhav of the special court for cases under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act is likely to pronounce the judgement on Friday, said special public prosecutor Prakash Suryawanshi.
The National Investigation Agency on Monday filed a charge-sheet against 11 persons from the right-wing Hindu outfit 'Sanatan Sanstha' in connection with the Goa blast that killed two persons. Those chargesheeted include Malgonda Patil and Yogesh Naik, who were killed when the bomb went off accidentally at Margao, about 35 km from Panaji, before it could be planted. The charges included criminal conspiracy.
Goa Chief Minister Digamber Kamat has clarified that ban on Sanatan Sanstha would be contemplated only after the National Investigating Agency completes its probe in Margao blast case.
'The Sanatan Sanstha does not believe in violence. The concept of violence and threatening people doesn't fit into our ideology and principles.' 'There are some people who are opposed to Hindu religion. They think propagating the tenets of the Hindu religion is a sign of backwardness.' 'While the RSS and Sanatan Sanstha propagate Hindutvavad and cultural nationalism, we do have our differences, which in a democratic society is absolutely normal and required.'
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has said Malgonda Patil, the prime accused in Margao blast, stayed in the saint's quarter 'Sant Kakshay' at Sanatan Sanstha's Ramnathi Ashram in Goa.
Journalist Nikhil Wagle, who has been receiving threats from the Sanatan Sanstha, has rejected the security cover offered to him by the Maharashtra government.
The Goa police on Wednesday claimed that right-wing Hindu group Sanatana Sanstha was not responsible for the October 16 scooter blast in Margao.The state police had earlier said that the two key accused in the case -- Malganda Patil and Yogesh Naik -- had links with the Sanstha.Earlier, state Home Minister Ravi Naik stated that Sanathan Sanstha worker Malganda Patil planned and executed Friday's blast near a church in Margao.
Right-wing organisations are holding a five-day conference at Ramnathi, Goa -- headquarters of the Sanatan Sanstha -- from June 10 to June 14 to draw up a timetable for the "formation of a Hindu nation and protection of Hindutva and Hindu organisations". Sanatan Sanstha had hit headlines in October 2009 for its links with Malegaon blast accused Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, after the death of two people in a scooter bomb blast at Margao on the eve of Diwali.
The Goa police on Wednesday claimed that there was enough proof against the two Sanatan Sanstha activists, who died in the Margao blast, to indicate their involvement in the explosion. Margao police station in-charge has filed a First Information Report against Malgonda Patil and Yogesh Naik, because there was enough proof against them linking them to the blast, Superintendent of Police Atmaram Deshpande told reporters.
Even after four days, the state police have failed to make any arrest in the Margao blast case as the Special Investigation Team continued their investigation in the state.
Dabholkar was shot dead on August 20, 2013 near his home in Pune, while he was on a morning walk.
The Maharashtra government dillydallied for over seven years to pass the anti-superstition and black magic bill, and it took the murder of rationalist Dr Narendra Dabholkar, who tirelessly pushed for the bill, to goad it into passing it through the ordinance route at its cabinet meeting on Wednesday as a tribute to him
Close on the heels of the arrest of a man allegedly having links with right-wing outfit Sanatan Sansthan in connection with the murder of Communist leader and rationalist Govind Pansare, a 32-year-old woman has been picked up by police for questioning from Kanjurmarg in Mumbai suburb.
Dabholkar (67), an anti-superstition crusader, was shot dead while on a morning walk on Omkareshwar Bridge here on August 20, 2013.
Akolkar is believed to be linked to 'Sanatan Sanstha', a Hindu right-wing organization whose headquarters are located in Ponda, Goa. He has been on the run ever since his name cropped up during the NIA investigations in the Goa blast case.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances